Control signaling for multicast communications

Abstract

In embodiments of systems and methods for managing control signaling for multicast communications, a base station may transmit to a wireless device an indication of whether to monitor a group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH), a wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information, or both. The base station may determine a schedule for transmitting multicast communications to the wireless device based on a capability reported by the wireless device, and may transmit to the wireless device an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both. The base station may transmit, and the wireless device may receive, the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method performed by a processor of a base station of managing control signaling for multicast communications, comprising:
 transmitting to a wireless device an indication of whether to monitor a group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH), a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information; 
 transmitting to the wireless device a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) threshold or a Signal-Plus-Interference-to-Noise Ratio (SINR) threshold that enables the wireless device to determine whether to enable an Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) associated with the GC PDCCH or an RNTI associated with the wireless device-specific PDCCH; 
 determining a schedule for transmitting multicast communications to the wireless device based on a capability reported by the wireless device; 
 transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH; and 
 transmitting to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises transmitting to the wireless device a Control Resource Set (CORESET) configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises transmitting to the wireless device a Search Space (SS) configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises transmitting to the wireless device a common SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises transmitting to the wireless device a wireless device-specific SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises transmitting to the wireless device a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format indicating whether to enable an RNTI associated with the GC PDCCH, an RNTI associated with the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the RNTI associated with the GC PDCCH and the RNTI associated with the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises transmitting to the wireless device a priority index to enable the wireless device to determine whether to monitor the GC PDCCH or the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises transmitting the schedule to the wireless device by Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein determining a schedule for transmitting multicast communications to the wireless device based on a capability reported by the wireless device comprises determining based on the capability reported by the wireless device whether the wireless device is capable of receiving the schedule via the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 8 , wherein determining based on the capability reported by the wireless device whether the wireless device is capable of receiving the schedule via the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises determining based on the capability reported by the wireless device whether the wireless device is capable of receiving multicast communications via the GC PDCCH or the wireless device-specific PDCCH in a same slot or overlapping in time. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 8 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises transmitting to the wireless device a wireless device-specific PDCCH including a field to indicate whether the wireless device-specific PDCCH is associated with the GC PDCCH for multicast transmission, GC PDCCH. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 8 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises transmitting to the wireless device an indication that the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises a same Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) process ID and a same New Data Indicator (NDI) as an associated GC PDCCH for multicast transmission. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 in response to determining that the wireless device is capable of receiving the multicast scheduling information via both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH, transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether multicast communications sent via a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that is scheduled by the wireless device-specific PDCCH and multicast communications sent via a second PDSCH that is scheduled by the GC PDCCH use the same resources and configuration. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether multicast communications sent via the first PDSCH and multicast communications sent via the second PDSCH use the same resources and configuration comprises:
 transmitting to the wireless device an indication of whether multicast communications sent via the first PDSCH and multicast communications sent via the second PDSCH are transmitted in a same transport block (TB), wherein the multicast communications sent via the first PDSCH and the multicast communications sent via the second PDSCH have different redundancy versions (RVs). 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 13 , further comprising receiving feedback from the wireless device via an uplink resource indicated in the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 13 , further comprising sending a retransmission of the multicast communications via the first PDSCH. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a PDCCH scheduling limitation on a number of GC PDCCHs, wireless device-specific PDCCHs, or GC PDCCHs and device-specific PDCCHs that may be scheduled in a same slot, 
 wherein transmitting to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule comprises transmitting to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the determined PDCCH scheduling limitation. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a PDSCH scheduling limitation on a number of PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH, PDSCHs scheduled by a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH and a wireless device-specific PDCCH that may be scheduled in a same slot, 
 wherein transmitting to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule comprises transmitting to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the determined PDSCH scheduling limitation. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a TB scheduling limitation on a maximum data rate of TBs per slot transmitted in PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH, TBs per slot transmitted in PDSCHs scheduled by a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or TBs per slot transmitted in PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH(s) and wireless device-specific PDCCH(s) that may be scheduled in a same slot, 
 wherein transmitting to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule comprises transmitting to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the determined TB scheduling limitation. 
 
     
     
       20. A method performed by a processor of a wireless device of managing control signaling for multicast communications, comprising:
 receiving from a base station an indication of whether to monitor a group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH), a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information wherein the wireless device-specific PDCCH includes a field indicating whether the wireless device-specific PDCCH is associated with the GC PDCCH for multicast transmission; 
 transmitting to the base station a capability of the wireless device to receive a schedule for multicast communication; 
 receiving from the base station an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH, based on the capability of the wireless device; and 
 receiving from the base station the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule. 
 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 20 , wherein receiving from the base station an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises receiving from the base station a Control Resource Set (CORESET) configuration indicating whether to enable monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 20 , wherein receiving from the base station an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises receiving from the base station a Search Space (SS) configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 22 , wherein receiving from the base station a, SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises receiving from the base station a common SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 22 , wherein receiving from the base station a SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises receiving from the base station a wireless device-specific SS configuration indicating whether to enable monitoring of the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 22 , wherein receiving from the base station an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises receiving from the base station a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format indicating whether to enable a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) associated with the GC PDCCH, an RNTI associated with the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the RNTI associated with the GC PDCCH and the RNTI associated with the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 25 , wherein receiving from the base station an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises:
 receiving from the base station a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) threshold or a Signal-Plus-Interference-to-Noise Ratio (SINR) threshold; 
 determining whether a CQI of a signal from the base station exceeds the CQI threshold or a SINR of a signal from the base station exceeds the SINR threshold; 
 monitoring the GC PDCCH in response to determining that the CQI of the signal from the base station exceeds the CQI threshold or the SINR of the signal from the base station exceeds the SINR threshold; and 
 monitoring the wireless device-specific PDCCH in response to determining that the CQI of the signal from the base station does not exceed the CQI threshold or the SINR of the signal from the base station does not exceed the SINR threshold. 
 
     
     
       27. The method of  claim 26 , wherein:
 monitoring the GC PDCCH comprises enabling an RNTI associated with the GC PDCCH; and 
 monitoring the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises enabling an RNTI associated with the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
 
     
     
       28. The method of  claim 20 , wherein receiving from the base station an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises:
 receiving from the base station a priority index; and 
 determining based on the priority index and a priority associated with the GC PDCCH or the wireless device-specific PDCCH whether to monitor the GC PDCCH or the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
 
     
     
       29. The method of  claim 20 , wherein receiving from the base station an indication of whether to monitor the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information comprises receiving from the base station an indication that the wireless device-specific PDCCH comprises a same Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) process ID and a same New Data Indicator (NDI) as an associated GC PDCCH for multicast transmission. 
     
     
       30. The method of  claim 20 , further comprising:
 receiving from the base station an indication of whether multicast communications sent via a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that is scheduled by the wireless device-specific PDCCH and multicast communications sent via a second PDSCH that is scheduled by the GC PDCCH use the same resources and configuration. 
 
     
     
       31. The method of  claim 30 , wherein receiving from the base station an indication of whether multicast communications sent via the first PDSCH and multicast communications sent via a second PDSCH use the same resources and configuration comprises:
 receiving from the base station an indication of whether multicast communications sent via the first PDSCH and multicast communications sent via the second PDSCH are transmitted in a same transport block (TB), wherein the multicast communications sent via the first PDSCH and the multicast communications sent via the second PDSCH have different redundancy versions (RVs). 
 
     
     
       32. The method of  claim 30 , further comprising sending feedback to the base station via an uplink resource indicated in the wireless device-specific PDCCH. 
     
     
       33. The method of  claim 30 , further comprising receiving a retransmission of the multicast communications via the first PDSCH. 
     
     
       34. The method of  claim 20 , wherein receiving from the base station the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule comprises receiving from the base station the multicast communications according to a PDCCH limitation on a number of GC PDCCHs, wireless device-specific PDCCHs, or GC PDCCHs and device-specific PDCCHs that may be scheduled in a same slot, wherein the PDCCH limitation is based on the capability of the wireless device. 
     
     
       35. The method of  claim 20 , wherein receiving from the base station the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule comprises receiving from the base station the multicast communications according to a PDSCH scheduling limitation on a number of PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH, PDSCHs scheduled by a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH(s) and wireless device-specific PDCCHs that may be scheduled in a same slot, wherein the PDSCH scheduling limitation is based on the capability of the wireless device. 
     
     
       36. The method of  claim 20 , wherein receiving from the base station the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule comprises receiving from the base station the multicast communications according to a TB scheduling limitation on a maximum data rate of TB s per slot transmitted in PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH, TBs per slot transmitted in PDSCHs scheduled by a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or TBs per slot transmitted in PDSCHs scheduled by a GC PDCCH(s) and wireless device-specific PDCCH(s) that may be scheduled in a same slot, wherein the TB scheduling limitation is based on the capability of the wireless device. 
     
     
       37. A base station, comprising:
 a transceiver; and 
 a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
 transmit to a wireless device an indication of whether to monitor a group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH), a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information; 
 transmit to the wireless device a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) threshold or a Signal-Plus-Interference-to-Noise Ratio (SINR) threshold that enables the wireless device to determine whether to enable an Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) associated with the GC PDCCH or an RNTI associated with the wireless device-specific PDCCH; 
 determine a schedule for transmitting multicast communications to the wireless device based on a capability reported by the wireless device; 
 transmit to the wireless device an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH; and 
 transmit to the wireless device the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule. 
 
 
     
     
       38. A wireless device, comprising:
 a transceiver; and 
 a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
 receive from a base station an indication of whether to monitor a group common physical downlink control channel (GC PDCCH), a wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH for multicast configuration information, wherein the wireless device-specific PDCCH includes a field indicating whether the wireless device-specific PDCCH is associated with the GC PDCCH for multicast transmission; 
 transmit to the base station a capability of the wireless device to receive a schedule for multicast communication; 
 receive from the base station an indication of whether a transport block for GC multicast communications including services for multicast communications will be scheduled by the GC PDCCH, the wireless device-specific PDCCH, or both the GC PDCCH and the wireless device-specific PDCCH, based on the capability of the wireless device; and 
 receive from the base station the multicast communications according to the multicast configuration information and the schedule.